It was inevitable that deep winter would come, and here we are on a morning of eleven degrees below zero. It’s terribly worriesome to have animals in weather this cold. Luckily the ducks are designed for cold, as their bodies are surrounded by a nice, thick layer of fat….just like seals who bob about in the Arctic Seas, undaunted! This morning warm water was brought to them at 5am, in the darkest, coldest hours of the morning. The stars were twinkling, the quarter moon showing it’s shadow. What a surprise to find 23 beautiful eggs that they had laid for us! 3 had frozen and burst their shells (those are what we call “farmers’ perks” eggs) but the remaining eggs are going into our first 2012 duck egg order. There are several families waiting for our duck eggs, those who have children who can’t eat chicken eggs. We’re so glad we can once again supply their families with pure nutrition and goodness. As the egg numbers climb each day, we’ll be bringing duck eggs to the Twin Cities Co-ops very soon. The ladies are very contented right now. They enjoy their fresh hay for snacking and snuggling on and still take baths in their tub, even in the subzero temps.
Early this week we added two new milking goats to our herd. Honey and her daughter Brenna are both pregnant Oberhasli goats. They had an encounter with a hormone-crazed fence-jumping Pygmy Billy goat about 4 months ago, so their kids should be extra adorably tiny. Honey is solid black and growing enormous. When we first went to see her, she looked pregnant, but not THIS pregnant! Hoping she’ll wait for a fair weather day to have her kids, and then our first milking of 2012 will commence. Then 12 hour lock down begins- goats need to be milked regularly every 12 hours to encourage an ongoing, consistent supply of their delicious milk.
May on alert with the newbies on the block. Her daughters Babycakes and Bunny, always at her side.
Bluebelle, working hard, growing from puppy to extraordinary farm dog.
